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Powersolo
Powersolo Schubas, Chicago Friday, September 14, 2007 Tunes about truckin,’ fuckin’, and NASCAR, mopey C&W, amphetamine-laced rockabilly, and a jewel-case picture of the band hanging off a tractor in the middle of a farm field. Where else could Powersolo call home than Aarhus, Denmark?
17 Hippies preview
17 Hippies World Music Festival, Chicago Sunday, September 16, 2007 Tuesday, September 18, 2007 17 Hippies are sort of liars, or maybe more like embellishers. They aren’t really hippies, first off, and there aren’t really 17 people in the band. Only 13, actually.
Jamie T. Preview
Jamie T. Schubas, Chicago Tuesday, September 18, 2007 Like the characters in Gary Oldman’s gritty 1997 directorial debut, Nil By Mouth, the subjects populating Jamie T.’s (Treays) inaugural full-length, Panic Prevention (Caroline), just want to get fucking wasted.
Okkervil River preview
Okkervil River Logan Square Auditorium, Chicago Tuesday, September 18, 2007 For their fourth LP, Austin’s Okkervil River latch onto the age-old “life is a stage” theme. Unlike Bill Shakespeare, whose poetic constructions were a mirror celebration of life’s complexities, OR frontman Will Sheff takes a decidedly bleaker view and only continues to hold a pen […]
Devendra Banhart preview
Devendra Banhart Portage Theater, Chicago Tuesday, September 18, 2007 Devendra Banhart will probably never change from the 2004 version, as far as the public is concerned. He’ll always be the wild-eyed, freakishly hirsute international hippie who briefly lit a spark under indie rockers’ dormant appreciation for out-there folk music. He won’t be no damned rock […]
Suzy Bogguss reviewed
Suzy Bogguss Sweet Danger (LDR) Hard to believe it has been about 15 years since this downstate product was racking up the gold and platinum records. Appearing: September 16th at FitzGerald’s in Berwyn.
Travis Tritt reviewed!
Travis Tritt The Storm (Category 5) It’d be easy to sit back and say folks have tired of Travis Tritt, especially from a Yankee perspective. His era — that of Garth Brooks and Clint Black — is only survived by a bland-as-all-get-out Alan Jackson, while Tritt’s own appropriation of the Waylon image gets shakier the […]
African Festival Of The Arts live!
Hugh Masekela, Poncho Sanchez, Goapale Washington Park, Chicago Friday, August 31, 2007 Sunday, September 2, 2007 Hugh Masakela After 18 years, the African Festival Of The Arts appears to be shifting the focus from international African and Diasporan acts, to American oldies groups such as Cameo and the Mary Jane Girls. However, powerhouse performers such […]
Counting Crows live!
Counting Crows Midway Stadium, St. Paul, MN Saturday, September 1, 2007 On a glorious September night, a respectable audience, throbbing with an anticipatory sense of nostalgia, gathered to witness the return of genuine alt-rock superstars Counting Crows. Lead singer Adam Duritz has battled his demons, but after reforming body, mind, and soul, he and his […]
Earlimart live!
Earlimart Schubas, Chicago Thursday, August 30, 2007 Earlimart, like the South Central California town for which they’re named, have a propensity to be overlooked. They admit to not touring as much as they should, and their brand of college rock — Yo La Tengo without the manic guitar leads — is about as remarkable as […]
Akron/Family preview
Akron/Family Logan Square Auditorium, Chicago Friday, September 7, 2007 With four days until the release of their fourth album, this nigh-comically unhinged quartet will come to Chicago and nearly come together.
Signing Choir preview
Signing Choir Schubas, Chicago Saturday, September 8, 2007 The old joke often holds true for actors: they really just want to direct. So, one wonders if the same adage hovers over musicians. Does the bass player in a band really just want to take on the role of lead singer?
Animal Collective preview
Animal Collective Vic Theatre, Chicago Monday, September 10, 2007 Of all the bands whose sound wicks comparison to Talking Heads, only Animal Collective seem to have the spirit down (wildly ambitious and shaking nervously). But for the upcoming Strawberry Jam (Fat Cat), another distinct influence emerges: The Beach Boys.
Biffy Clyro preview
Biffy Clyro Park West, Chicago Tuesday, September 11, 2007 This isn’t your little brother’s Roadrunner Records anymore, and the release of Biffy Clyro’s newest album further proves it.
Scenes From A Movie preview
Scenes From A Movie Beat Kitchen, Chicago Tuesday, September 11, 2007 Hate Fall Out Boy? Man, might as well know from the get go, Scenes From A Movie is going to make your blood boil.
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